One and two-engine light aircraft are generally used infrequently over the course of the year. During the winter months and during other periods of bad weather, they often sit idle for long periods on the ground. Since aircraft are generally costly investments and sensitive machines, it is desirable to store them in hangars during periods of inactivity to protect them from the influence of atmospheric conditions. An aircraft covered with snow or coated with hoarfrost or even a layer of ice requires considerable preparation and expense to be made ready for take-off. When an aircraft is stored in a hangar, however, these time consuming flight preparation activities are eliminated.
A large number of light aircraft are, for the reasons just indicated, stored in hangars. That is to say, the aircraft are parked in a permanent building. If suitable safeguards are lacking, then it may be advisable to cover the cockpit with a special tarpaulin.
Because of the bulkiness of their shape, aircraft require a considerable amount of space, and hangar places are therefore correspondingly expensive. In order to use the space available in a hangar as intelligently as possible, light aircraft are arranged with one another on the ground in a "jigsaw puzzle" fashion. However, there are a number of disadvantages of this arrangement: for example, several planes must be reparked or even moved from the hangar into the open to provide access to a specific machine, which may then be rolled outside. If the flight crew will be traveling for a long time, the aircraft generally must be moved back to their respective places again. When the plane returns from its flight, the procedure begins all over again, until all the aircraft have again been removed from and replaced in the hangar. This removing and reparking work is tedious and time-consuming hard work. Four-seat planes can hardly be moved by a single person. There is also the danger, during such maneuvers, of contacting other aircraft and damaging them. These tedious moving and reparking operations contribute to the fact that use of the aircraft is avoided, because of the inordinate expenditure of energy to make the plane ready for take-off. If aircraft are not stored in a hangar, however, they are exposed to the weather, and they require, because of dust, snow, ice, etc., considerable preparatory work for flight. The problems described here are known to almost all mechanical aviation groups, in which circles reference is frequently made to the "hangar problem". In addition, at most airfields, too few hangar places are available. In most cases, apart from the difficulties in raising the necessary capital for constructing a permanent building, the change of receiving construction approval are very unlikely.